Posted by: Tom
Email: thomashewitt1799@yahoo.co.uk
Date Posted: April 18, 2008
Subject: Re: Re: End of survey on 'buying a pre-owned French horn'
On reflection, the questions in the survey were probably in the wrong order and should have been reversed.
The most important questions were probably:
1. Could you place, in order of most important to least important, the 6 most important characteristics and qualities of the horn that led you to decide to buy it?
2.When you were choosing a horn from one of the various retailers, were you treated with understanding and courtesy? Is there any additional comment you would like to make?
3. When you had decided on the French horn that interested you, were you allowed a trial of the instrument for e.g. a week, 10 days, 2 weeks?
This last question ought to have unnecessary, but I added it because several acquaintances had told me that not all retailers allowed a trial period. I found this quite unbelievable and wanted to get to the bottom of it. I still can't quite believe that a horn buyer would fork out several thousands of pounds, buying a horn solely on the basis of how accurately it was described by the retailer(s).
Rest assured I will certainly not, as you fear, 'put my foot in it'. The results that I intend to publish on this website will be the simple percentage statistics. I will not now be sending out individual e-mails, but if anyone cares to email me inquiring about the detailed results which include comments by the 'surveyed candidates' (sic: your words, surely your misunderstanding, since it was not the 'candidates'/ respondents who were being surveyed, it was the retailers) I will provide them with the access codes to the website.
In that case it will be their choice as to whether to look at those results, rather than my choosing to publish them.
I hope your Texan Grandmother can be protected from your hypothesised 'mouthpiece abuse', by the way.